Yeah I think he is. I personally don't like it when skaters recycle programs though, even if the program is a good one. He'll have performed this at least 6 times by season's end, and he doesn't actually have much to build on by skating it 6 more times - its mostly just the technical stuff, which happens in any program. By that time I'm ready for something fresh, and someone like Patrick really shouldn't be playing it safe by keeping a program. With his skills he's got a lot to offer, he just needs to challenge himself. It just seems like a real waste that we only get to see new programs from him every two seasons.

You took it right from my mouth. I was a fan of his back 4 years ago, but when he started keeping ALL his programs for 2 seasons, I started to root for others.
I finally like his choices again, I pray he'll come up ith other stuff next year.
He actually stated this year he wants to develop artistically. May I ask, ho he can do that skating for the same programs over and over again???

Actually, the requirement for a jump combination in the SP is a minimum of one triple and one double jump - it doesn't matter which one is first or second.

Yeah, thanks to that I could observe the combo from Chan that Katarina Witt could do 30 years ago when I wasn't even born. Why no world record for that?

Originally Posted by wallylutz

Not any different than if I type "flat Earth" into Google, I'd find a lot of people, even a whole association of people who are convinced that Earth is really flat too.

Great to see that you are so desperate to google for "flat earth" in order to make a "point". Actually, I somehow understand and pity you. True. Patrick said that Plu is like a royalty in Russia. By this he admitted that he is a nobody in his home country. Not a surprise that his fans are so angry that the only "humour" that they could come up with is to dismiss public opinion. The result is well-known: low popularity of this sport. Well-done work, guys! The only thing that I don't understadn is why ISU keeps doing everything they could to make things ever worser than they already are. For the sake of self-admitted "Mr. Nobody"? Oh, well. That's funny indeed.

I really enjoyed the commentary of the British commentator's during Patrick's performance. I think those who really know skating appreciate those qualities Patrick does so well, its almost like he floats on the ice.His fault is he makes it look too easy. Something that was said about Gordeeva and Grinkov. I don't think he is invincible though, but a near perfect Patrick would be hard to beat. I don't think his short at GPF was as relaxed as Rostelecom and his camel was slightly off when he changes to a forward camel. I really don't think there is such a thing as chanflation but qualityflation.

1. The Japanese men should swap music with one another.
2. The scoring is getting ridiculous. It used to be that one actually had to skate well and without any serious mistakes to get into the upper 80s.
3. I don't share the enthusiasm for Chan's SP, mostly because I still his strengths lie on the technical side of things and not in the interpretation. But I do like it better than his Nichol programs. Buttle is a very promising choreographer. Also, his music hurts neither my ears nor my soul, which is more than can be said for some people in the GPF.
4. With so many strong skaters, it's becoming about who can best check of as many bullet points and rack up points, and there are only so many ways to do so. I was bored watching most of it.
5. Dai should go back to last year's programs which are much much much better.6. Don't feed the trolls.

I am sure they (people) also know that other skaters have these qualities too. But besides that they have performance skills, charisma, connection with the audience, great musicality and good personalities that make them not to badmouth about their rivals. And in addtiotion to all this, they normally don't zamboni ice with their butts multiples times, don't double their jumps and don't end up 3T-3T or 2L-3T ladies' combo getting abnormal score for that. And, which is more importatnt, they are adored in their home countries, gather crowds worldwide leaving some fake champions' fans dying of green envy (judigng by their commnets).

I am sure they (people) also know that other skaters have these qualities too. But besides that they have performance skills, charisma, connection with the audience, great musicality and good personalities that make them not to badmouth about their rivals. And in addtiotion to all this, they normally don't zamboni ice with their butts multiples times, don't double their jumps and don't end up 3T-3T or 2L-3T ladies' combo getting abnormal score for that. And, which is more importatnt, they are adored in their home countries, gather crowds worldwide leaving some fake champions' fans dying of green envy (judigng by their commnets).

I am warming towards Chan this season. I like his programmes. In his SP he uses his skating skills to achieve this sense of legato upon which the music is superimposed and I really love the effect.
Men's field this season is the most fertile. I love watching them all, they are all on upward curves.

Ah well, it seems a tad bit high scoring for some of the splats and stumbles. Seems quite a few skaters were tight and had a bit more unmanageable nerves than usual across disciplines here. Maybe they were all thinking a bit too much of the Sochi venue being where the Olympics will take place in a little over a year from now. IMO, the video and audio transmission was very poor (at least from many of the clips I've seen).

Fab program though for masterful Dai (aside from the slow spins). Dai accurately in first place. I too agree with those who feel Taka Kozuka should most definitely have been in front of Hanyu. With his stuffed bear Pooh, Hanyu reminds me of Tiger Woods' stuffed animal fetish, and that's where the comparison ends pretty much as golf and figure skating are nothing alike. Of course Hanyu is also precocious in what he does as was Tiger at a young age. However, I think that in fs there is a bit too much awestruck frenzy over Hanyu. When he's good, he's good and when he's sloppy, he's messy. Even though he does have something special, I think Hanyu needs more seasoning overall, and he's at this point IMO over-rated on PCS.

This competition in all disciplines shows something about the difficulty inherent in being a figure skater. The current judging system still needs a lot of tweaking, IMO in order to not add so much to the complexities of this sport.

And last but not least, kudos to Chan for his efforts to work more on artistry this season. I think he is admirably (if somewhat ickily) very loyal to his (dance) coach (who is also of course the mother of his current girlfriend). He does seem to have a great connection with Kathy Johnson. Much to admire in Chan's talents, including how quickly he learned quads, his blade mastery and his flow over the ice. Although I can appreciate Chan more overall (again now that the judges aren't going blimey gaga all the time over him whether he's good or bad) and I do enjoy his programs this season, I find something a bit of him almost trying too hard to show how "artistic" he can be in his skating. I don't really feel a sense of soulful connection with who he is as a person and a skater in the same way I do with Dai, Jeremy, Michelle Kwan, and other skaters I am more in love with.